The Forum Daily | Tuesday, March 25, 2025https://immigrationforum.org/

THE FORUM DAILY
Religious leaders and community members in El Paso marched together last night to share a message of mercy and compassion, reports Daniel Perez of El Paso Matters [link removed].  

The gathering at Sacred Heart Catholic Church was led by El Paso Catholic Bishop Mark Seitz (also a Forum board member) who emphasized speaking out to leaders and showing compassion to migrants. 

"To all who live in fear, understand the church’s commitment in this hour of darkness," said Bishop Seitz. 

Different churches across the country are considering their role in keeping migrant community members safe as they deal with the continued fallout from the federal government revoking its "sensitive spaces" policy, report Patrick Davis, Anna King and Sarah Ventre of NPR [link removed].  

The "sensitive spaces" guideline limited Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) officers from entering places of worship, hospitals or schools. The rule was revoked by the administration in January.  

"[I]f there is religious liberty, we should have religious liberty to obey scripture and its commandment to treat the immigrant as well as we treat citizens," said Rev. Jim Rigby. 

In an op-ed for Newsweek [link removed], Domenic Canonico an attorney at Notre Dame Law School's Religious Liberty Clinic writes that "There's no virtue and no strength in needlessly impeding others' efforts to practice their faith. It's better for everyone if those who enforce our laws respect the sanctity of religious practice, of citizens and noncitizens alike." 

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Forum Daily. I’m Clara Villatoro, the Forum’s assistant VP of strategic communications, and the great Forum Daily team also includes Marcela Aguirre, Jillian Clark, Soledad Gassó Parker, Dan Gordon and Broc Murphy. If you have a story to share from your own community, please send it to me at [email protected] mailto:[email protected].   

**JUDICIAL REVIEW** — After a hearing Monday, a U.S. appeals court judge ruled that the Trump administration must stop deporting immigrants under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act without a proper trial, report Luc Cohen and Ted Hesson of Reuters [link removed]. The judge also upheld the two-week ban on deportations under the act and justified his ruling against the administration due to inhumane conditions inside the Salvadoran prison. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is expected to visit El Salvador’s prison tomorrow as part of an official trip to the region, reports Hadriana Lowenkron of Bloomberg [link removed].   

**LAWSUITS** — Advocates are raising concerns after the new directives at the Department of Justice that could seek sanctions against lawyers and law firms that lead lawsuits and other cases against the government, including those on immigration, report Mike Scarcella, Andrew Goudsward and Sara Merken of Reuters [link removed]. Legal advocacy groups like the ACLU say that the administration’s action is meant to "chill and intimidate" lawyers.  

**MIDWEST** — Thomas B. Langhorne of the Hillsdale Daily News [link removed] walks through the Midwest states approach to immigration through new state laws. Advocates and immigrants alike are speaking out against some of these actions, Langhorne notes. Separately, in Iowa, immigrants fear their regular check-in meetings with ICE could lead to their deportations, reports Emily Andersen of The Gazette [link removed].  

**POPULATION** — According to recently released census data, Philadelphia County gained 10,500 new residents between 2023 and 2024, with immigration playing a large role in that gain, reports Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza of WHYY [link removed]. "For a long time, the city of Philadelphia has been losing population," said Emilio Parrado, director of the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. " We had not recovered in terms of population growth until last year." According to Pew Charitable Trusts’ data, between 2000-2022, nearly 40% of Philadelphia's population growth was led by individuals migrating from Latin America countries. 

Thanks for reading,  

Clara 

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